Power mechanism for washing-machines.



C. E. ROBERTS. POWER MECHANISM FOR WASHING MACHINES APPLICATION FILED JUNE 28,1912.

1, 1 28,050. Patented Feb. 9, 1915,

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

I? V v I O I 125/ ff m, W

G ILHOBERTS.

w)... POWER MECHANISM FOR WASHING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 28.1912.

Patented Feb. 9, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

CHARLES E. ROBERTS, OF OAK PARK, ILIlINOIS.

-POWER MECHANISM FOR WASHING-MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 9, 1915.

Application filed June 28, 1812. Serial No. 706,840.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, (nannies E. Rounu'rs,

a citizen of the United States, residing in,

Oak Park, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have in nted a new and useful Improvement in ower Mechanism for \Vashing-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is an improvement in actuating mechanism for power driven washi-ng machines, and is specially well adapted to take its motive power from a. belt pulley which may be mounted on the machine, and which may be continuously driven.

The invention consists in the novel features and combinations of parts and devices hereinafter set forth.

In the accompanying drawing, I show at Figure 1 a side elevation of a machine enibodying the invention. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a front elevation. Fig. 4 is a section on the line 41 of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5 5 of Fig. 3. Fi 6 is a section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 2.

The machine shown is a. washing, machine, the tub or vessel whereof is shown at 7 in Figs. 1 and 3. This tub is supported at one end on a pivot 8 formed on the coupling 9 uniting the upper ends of a (pair of converging legs 10 at that end, sai pivot entering a boss 11 formed on the vertical plate 12 secured to the tub. Upon the opposite end, the tub is supported upon a pivot 13 extending axially from the center of a segmental pinion. 14L and entering an opening formed in a plate 15 attached to or forming a part of a coupling 16 corresponding to the coupling 9 at the other end and uniting the upper ends of two converging legs 10 at this on of the machine. The pinion 14 is attached to or formed in one piece with the vertical plate 17 corresponding to plate 12 at the other end of the tub and secured to the tub in a similar manner. With the tub thus supported, it will be noted that it is adapted to swing freely to both sides of its normal central position shown in Fig. '1, and that this movement may carry it nearly through a complete circle. The mechanism I- have -,dcvisod is however intended merely to os-' cillate the tub, and to reverse the movement at each end of its oscillation, and for this purpose the mechanism is constructed as now to be described.

As already stated, the mechanism is preferably adapted to be driven by a belt pulley such as 20 mounted on a shaft 21, supported in a housing 36 the ends of which are mountedon the le s 10 and 10 at the front of the machine, an such shaft carries a pinion 22 fast upon it and meshing with a gear 23 fast on a parallel shaft 24 supported in the same housing and power is taken from the shaft 24 through a'crunk 25 on its end to a vertical rack bar 26 meshing with the inion 14, already mentioned, on the tub, an held in mesh with said pinion by a guide wheel 27 stationarily located and supported in the housing 28 of couplin 16. See Fig. 6. Through the rising and alling movements of the rack bar 26 the oscillation of the tub is produced. The oscillation of the tub can.

be instantly stopped at any time b means of the clutch 30 at the outer end 0 shaft 24,

the movable part 31 of which is free to slide 9 on the/shaft but is keyed thereto and its notched wheel 32 is adapted to be engaged with the hub 33 of the crank which is armed with a projection 34- adapted to such engagement. This movable part 31 is slid into and out from engagement with the hub 33 by-the hand lever 35 pivotall supported in the housing 36 over said she ts, and is provided with a turned up inner epd 37 adapted to enter between the back of wheel 32, and the collar 38 on shaft 24, as shown. 'A simple turn of the lever35 opens or closes the clutch 30..as will be understood from the drawing. The power for drivin the wringer, is also by preference adapte to be put on and cut off at will b a c :lutch 40 on the shaft 24. The niovab e part 41 of this clutch is slidable on the shaft but is keyed thereto arid the non-slidable part which is not keyed is provided with a projection 42 ada ted to engage the notched rim of the movab e part, and thusto ive the wheel givesmotion'to the chain 44, which extends upward and passes around idler 45 and the wringer sprocket 46, and enables it to drive the'wringer 47 mounted on standards 48 adjustably and detachably supportmotion of shaft 24 to said hon-slida le pai't and its attached wheel 43. This sprocket A oscillating movement and as it is coming to part whenever the hand lever is rotated on its axial art 52. I

To 1pc the tub stationary, a catch consisting of a bell crank lever having arms 53 and 54 at right angles to each other. is pivoted at 55 on the housing. Arm 53 is adapted to enter a notch in the stop piece 56 on the tub, and thus to lock the tub, and is operated through the arm 54 by means of a cam movable with the clutch operating lever 35, so that as the clutch is moved to operative position, the catch is released and vice versa, thus preventing accidental turning on of power while the tub is locked.

It will also be noted that the tub is pivoted on an axis above aplane passing through the center of weight of the tub and its contents and hence when the tub is oscillated to each side of the axis. the washing within the tub will roll to the ends of the latter and tend to keep the center of weight of all the parts low and there will be practically no shock due to the momentum of the parts to be absorbed and no springs between the tub and the frame will be required to absorb the shock as has hitherto been customary in some Washing machines having the tub rockable about a horizontal axis. Another important feature of my improvements is the manner in which the power is transmitted from the driving shaft to th\ tub.

hen the tub is reaching the end of each :1 stop of its own accord after the manner of a pendulum the crank arm and rack bar rod are approaching parallelism, and therefore the speed of the rack bar is approaching zero, and hence there is no jar or shock to be absorbed by the driving mechanism and when the speed of the rack bar is gradually accelerated clue to the crank arm approaching a position at right angles to the )ar, the speed of movement of the tub is approaching its maximum automatically, in the same manner as a pendulum, as it passes through the vertical position.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the icndulum motion of the tub and the cranlearm pitman-driving motion cooperate to produce a machine which can be operated, without shock or jar to the various parts, and one which is practically noiseless in operation, and having all the parts so arranged that the mechanism operates equally well with all size washings, thus eliminating a defect often found in wash- .ing machines having a spring controlled rocking tub where the momentum of a heavy washing swings the tub too much and breaks the springs and where a light washing does not have sufficient momentum to stretch the springs at all. I claim In a machine of the class described, the

combination of an oscillatable member, a power shaft driving mechanism between said shaft and said member for moving the latter, said mechanism including a clutch, a latch for holding said member stationary, and a lever adapted to operate both the clutch and latch so arranged that the latch can only be locked when the clutch is disengaged and vice versa. 7

r f CHARLES E. ROBERTS.

\Vitnesses:

PEARL Animus,

H. M. MUNDAY. 

